Autonomous robots that perform household functions such as floor cleaning and lawn mowing are now readily available consumer products. As found in the industry and elsewhere, numerous attempts have been made to build lawn mowing robots. Each of these robots has faced a similar challenge: how to define the bounding area with minimal effort and efficiently cover the designated area given limited energy reserves.
Commercially successful robots tend to be unnecessarily complex and generally operate randomly within a confined area. When dealing with a lawn, existing autonomous robots utilize a physically defined perimeter to define the area of confinement. Examples of physically defined perimeters include a perimeter wire, reflectors, beacons and/or structural barriers, such as a fence. When all aspects of the confinement system are operating properly, these robots perform their respective tasks within the area of confinement.
In existing technologies, problems may arise with the physically defined perimeter, thereby enabling the autonomous robot to leave the desired area of confinement. Failures in physically defined perimeters may include a broken perimeter wire or a small opening or hole in a fence. Among other things, these failures can lead to a damaged robot, injury to an unsuspecting person, or failed coverage.
The performance of lawn mowing robots should concentrate on four measures of success: ease of use, coverage, mowing rate, and perceived effectiveness. As described above, if an autonomous robot is able to leave the desired area of confinement, the coverage will obviously not be optimal. Furthermore, existing technologies require the installation of a physical barrier, possibly including burying a perimeter wire around the desired area. This is not the easiest possible use of an autonomous robot designed to be contained in a bounded area for lawn mowing.
Thus, a need exists for an autonomous robot that can perform a task within a confined area that is defined without the use of a physically defined barrier.